#FreeDenis
An initiative to limit the use of restrictive covenants, NDAs, and broad confidentiality clauses to unreasonably restrict and or prohibit development on open-source software. We believe anti-competitive, unfair and monopolistic practices harm development in decentralized ecosystems; resulting in restraint of developers' trade and violation of free speech rights. Right to fork is a rite of innovation.
Free Who?
Denis Fadeev is a long-time Cosmos contributor. He joined Tendermint Inc. in 2019 as a frontend developer, built tendermint.com, maintained cosmos.network, built the documentation system used by most Cosmos projects for years, created the first real-time IBC visualizer for the Game of Zones. In 2020 he started the Starport/Ignite project, built and released the first version of the CLI. For more than two years he has led a team of developers with the mission to improve the developer experience of Cosmos by building tools, writing tutorials and providing support. Denis personally has helped thousands of developers to get started building in Cosmos and the Starport/Ignite tooling has empowered dozens of projects to go from an idea to a mainnet network, expanding the Cosmos.
Free What?
Denis Fadeev requires a written waiver/release from All in Bits, Inc., to fork Ignite CLI. He will rename, rebrand, and abide by attribution requirements as per the licensing agreement. Ignite/cli was released via Apache 2 in 2020, and is widely used utility software in the Cosmos. It has helped launch half the sovereign chains in Cosmos. While the whole de/centralized world is “free to fork” the codebase, Denis is not. Due to the tumultuous restructuring of All in Bits, Denis decided to leave All in Bits in July 2022, and signed a prohibitive agreement without a full understanding of the restrictive covenants, therein. While IP experts and employment law specialists believe the language used in Denis’ termination agreement contains imperfect contract language, who among us can productively work on code under the unrelenting threat of a lawsuit? Therefore, for the avoidance of doubt and a lawsuit, Denis is seeking explicit permission to fork the codebase he architected as VP of Product at All in Bits., doing business as Tendermint/Ignite Global (2019 - 2023).
"it would be good to see your take on a fork, so the ecosystem has more choices" — Jae Kwon
Jae Kwon said, “…it would be good to see your take on a fork, so the ecosystem has more choices” . It seems we’re all in agreement that diversity and permissionless innovation are essential to decentralized development landscapes — If AIB agrees, they should #FreeDenis.
Beyond securing a permission pass for Denis, we believe AIB’s use of non-competes and expansive confidentiality clauses for the censorship of OSS development is both a dangerous precedent and practice. We're also aware there are elements of duress, undue influence, and unconscionability that play into developers signing unreasonably restrictive agreements. The sum of these harmful business practices are antithetical to open source principles and the ethos of the Cosmos. These practices -- should not pass.It's against our code.
The Cosmos is what it is today because the contribution layer has remained sufficiently decoupled from powerful partisan interests. If you agree, please lend your voice and sign the linked petition below.
Why #FreeDenis?
"Right to fork is a rite of innovation"
"...the values of open source must be upheld."
"...that someone else might be more successful with your code than you is a feature not a bug."
The use of restrictive covenants, NDAs, and broad confidentiality clauses to limit and prohibit the ongoing development on open-source software is anti-competitive and harmful to the decentralized development ecosystems. Using non-competes to prohibit open source development either directly/indirectly is a restraint of trade and a violation of free speech rights. The invocation of, and threats to enforce overly expansive NDAs and confidentiality agreements are unreasonable, non-specific, and oppressive.
How you can help?
Signed By:
- Gjermund Garaba EnpowerChain
- Jacob Gadikian Notional Labs
- Jake Hartnell Juno / DAO DAO
- Josh Lee Keplr/Osmosis
- Greg Osuri Akash Network
- Billy Rennekamp Cosmos
- Aleksandr Bezobchuk Cosmos SDK
- Jack Zampolin Strangelove Labs
- Zaki Manian Sommelier
- Don Don Cryptonium
- Mirza Uddin Injective Labs
- Ben Davis Atom Accelerator DAO
- SJames SmartNodes
- Litbit Notional
- Anton Kaliaev Substrate
- Vladimir Understanding POSTHUMAN Validator
- Adam Wozniak Ojo Network
- Collin Hutchinson Luna classic
- Henry de Valence Penumbra
- Albert Andrejev POSTHUMAN
- Shane Vitarana Stargaze
- Nikita Rykov Stargaze
- Tendermint Timmy Spark IBC
- Dimi Juno
- Avril Dutheil Neutron
- Felix Cosmoshield
- James R Badger Bite
- Grace Yu Former Ignite
- Scott Carter Former Ignite
- Trix Membrane
- Atom=4 Digits Atom=4 Digits
- Mant Hawkins Andromeda Protocol
- Cody Marx Bailey Andromeda Protocol
- Brendan Cooper Andromeda Protocol
- schultzie Lavender.Five Nodes
- Joshua Long Ignite cli contributor
- Coconaut Cosmos Korea
- Felix Lutsch Chorus One
- Jelena Djuric Noble
- Mempoolini Mempools
- BitCanna BitCanna
- Daniel Hwang
- Oleg T.
- Mijolae Wright
- Mike Purvis
- Michael gushansky
- ekez
- W3bqq
- susu
- EffortCapital
- Jake Thompson
- Nirel Gershwind
- tom
- Drew
- DJ
- Anzor
- ...